侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Inna Grigoryevna Gaponenko-Yanovska
1st Online Chess Olympiad Preliminary Round Duel I China – Ukraine; Match 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; chess.com, August 27, 2020
Sicilian Defence B31
Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion and Rhodes Scholar 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) ended her last appearance at the virtual Olympics with a win in the playoff match between China and Ukraine, which, however, was not enough to help her team advance to the quarterfinals. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. Be3 e5 9. Qd2 h6 10. 0-0 b6 11. Nh2 Nf8 12. f4 exf4 13. Rxf4 Be6 14. Raf1 g5 15. R4f2 Qd6 16. Ng4 0-0-0 17. Nf6 Nd7 18. Nh5 Be5 19. g4 Nf8!? Here is the novelty, a responsible one. A recent famous game went 19. ... f6 and after 20. b3 Bf7 21. Nd1 Nf8 22. Nxf6 Ne6 Black, at the cost of a Pawn, established a powerful bind on the dark squares, Caruana – Carlsen, London 2018, World Chess Championship match game 1. For the record, a draw was eventually agreed at move 115. 20. a4 a5 21. b3 Ng6 22. Ne2?! Much better seems Nc3-b1-a3-c4. 22. ... Nh4 23. Qe1. In retrospect, White could also have considered 23. Rf6 — sacrificing the Exchange, but keeping Black’s Kingside Pawns more at bay. 23. ... f5! Quite apart from the threat of ... f5xg4, Black clears the square f7 for her Bishop. 24. Rxf5. The Exchange sacrifice is forced, for in case of 24. exf5 as well as 24. gxf5 Black would play 24. ... Bf7 with much greater effect. 24. ... Nxf5 25. gxf5 Bf7. 25. ... Bxb3 was probably strong as well, but maybe Black feared the consequences of 26. Qb1 (after 26. cxb3 Qxd3 White’s position will rapidly fall apart) 26. ... Bf7 27. Qxb6 Bxh5 28. Rb1 with tricky play. 26. Neg3 Rhg8 27. Kg2
27. ... g4?? This is a huge mistake which seals the Kingside and springs White back to life, leaving her with an overwhelming compensation and a virtually won game. 28. h4! Bxh5 29. Nxh5 g3 30. Qe2 Qe7 31. f6 Qf7 32. Rf5 Rde8 33. Bxh6 Rg6 34. Bg5 Rh8 35. Rxe5 Qh7 36. Qg4+ Kb8 37. Nxg3 Qg8 38. Qf4 Ka8 39. Re7 1 : 0.
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